


What could have been

by zinjadu



Category: Mass Effect - All Media Types, Mass Effect Trilogy
Genre: Angst, Colonist (Mass Effect), Gen, Meeting yourself, Multiverse, What-If
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-04
Updated: 2020-09-04
Packaged: 2021-03-06 22:54:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 344
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26286802
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zinjadu/pseuds/zinjadu
Summary: Zahra Shepard meets a version of herself... if the batarian raid on Mindoir hadn't happened.Totally random thing I wrote, and thought... why not share?
Comments: 2
Kudos: 3





	What could have been

Zahra stared at… herself. Same hawk’s beak of a nose, same scar on her left eyebrow, same grey eyes. But that’s where the similarities ended. There was the hat for one. An old school cowboy hat like something out of a 20th century Western vid. There was the rest of the outfit for the rest of it. Blue jeans and plaid shirt and  _ cowboy boots _ .

What the ever loving fuck was going on here?

“So. This is weird.”

“Could say that again.”

She’d heard her own voice a few times, on interview playbacks, but it was weird to be present and hearing it  _ in person _ . Across from herself. Jesus  _ fucking _ Christ, had she finally really lost it? Or had they really punched a hole in the fabric of reality? Where was Mordin when you needed him?

Other-Zahra stuck her hands in her back pockets and raised her chin in a gesture Zahra knew all too well. 

“You’re Alliance,” Other-Zahra said, and then grinned. “Mom would hate that. Probably not as much as being a rider on the Earth rodeo circuit, but you know. Points for trying.”

Zahra’s scarred eyebrow quirked up. “Mom’s alive?”

“What kind of question is that? Of course she is. Why wouldn’t she be?”

And then a whole shit ton of bricks fell into place. Like a whole house’s worth fell on her at once. Mom was alive, which meant it was likely the slaver raid had never happened wherever Other-Zahra had come from. Which meant Dad was alive. And. 

“Karima and Norah?”

“Yeah, they’re doing fine. Karima just became a rabbi and Norah’s doing her doctorate. They came to see me ride last summer. Was a whole ton of fun, got them up on horses and everything.” Her smile, the smile of the woman who wasn’t her, was easy and wide. Sharp at the edges, but it was too real a smile for how she remembered her sisters. Their bodies on the landing pad, their sightless eyes.

Zahra swallowed the lump in her throat, like forcing down bile.  “That’s great.”


End file.
